Climate change goals

Fifty years ago, President Kennedy vowed to send a man to the moon within 10 years. It seemed impossible, but we did it, because it was important to beat the Soviets. Now President Barack Obama has said in his State of the Union address that we must do more to combat climate change. Yet he also pledged to speed up new oil and gas permits. These are opposing goals.

The more fossil fuels we produce and burn, the worse we make global warming. Even natural gas, while cleaner than oil and much cleaner than coal, adds its CO2 to the mix. And methane, far more damaging than CO2, is released during the production of natural gas. We must set all our resources to developing and producing clean energy.

This problem is far more urgent than getting someone to the moon was. The technology for clean energy is much farther along than space technology was in 1961, so we must push forward with it and make the same effort we did in the space race. We landed on the moon in less than nine years. Let's make the same strong effort for the climate now. Our children's lives depend on it.